The probate court appoints the executor named in your Will
to be responsible for making an inventory of your assets,
paying your outstanding debts at death and then distributing
the assets remaining in your estate in accordance with the
terms of your Will. The probate process can be costly and
very time-consuming. The probate process also makes public
the identity and value of your assets. It is possible to avoid
or reduce the costs of probate by funding your Revocable Trust
during your lifetime. The major cost savings
that can be accomplished through your Revocable Trust is the
avoidance or reduction of probate administration. Probate
is the court procedure which oversees the administration of
your estate. If title to your assets is changed to your Revocable
Trust during your lifetime, then upon your death, the successor
trustee appointed under the Revocable Trust has authority
to manage and distribute your assets in accordance with the
terms of the Revocable Trust without any involvement/interference
by the probate court system. Since the assets do not become
part of, or pass into, your probate estate, there is no need
for probate of assets placed into your Revocable Trust. The
successor trustee named in your Revocable Trust has the fiduciary
duty to manage and distribute Revocable Trust assets in accordance
with the Revocable Trust terms. There is currently no direct
probate court supervision of this process, therefore, the
process will not be made public.